Another day, another rip-off: #StopTheRipOff

April 26, 2022 by Tinni Choudhury in business

The Great Australian Rip-off campaign is in full swing as we at Kyco work to bring more attention to the problem with comparison sites. As if to validate our problem statement, Trivago was fined $44 million for misleading customers coming to their site looking for the best price.

My CEO, Trond Smith, appeared on Sky News to explain how this goes beyond travel. Highlighting that outside of comparison tools from consumer groups who compare the whole market, these websites are largely sales engines that will highlight the more profitable deals for them. Not to mention they aren’t always upfront about who owns them and sometimes they are owned by the people they are promoting.

It’s all very shady and very late-stage capitalism to a certain extent. 30% of people are switching, so the 70% who are not switching are in a way bearing the cost of the switchers. But also, the switchers are paying with their time and effort to keep switching. Wouldn’t it be better if we all just save as a collective?

Kyco is trying to be that collective and I am proud to do what I can to make that happen!

Finally attended a Silicon Beach Australia Virtual Pitch Night!

April 08, 2022 by Tinni Choudhury in talks, misc

Silicon Beach is Australia’s largest network of startup communities and it is a community I have wanted to stay connected to for some time. Yesterday, I was finally able to attend one of their pitch nights!

There were some great pitches from people trying to solve some real, pressing problems. The one I related to the most was Wirl App. Just because I often use food to keep myself functioning. Not great for the waist line but beats not being able to get out of bed! Wirl was one of the winners from the night.

The other winners were Diana’s Closet, which is a curated online clothing store. I loved her personality and her style is great too! I can see myself buying from her.

The other big winner was GoMicro which allows you to assess food quality using your mobile. As someone who struggles to judge fresh food lifespan, this is something I would buy if it were to become a consumer item. Although right now GoMicro seems to be focused more on large scale businesses.

Of the other pitchers, I noted MyAxis as someone who appeared to be post-revenue, which is always a strong selling point for a startup. Also, Terran Industries is trying to tackle climate change and currently raising capital. While Coat’d startup is trying to market a long-term disinfectant.

Other pitches were delivered from:

I have definitely missed a few and my apologies to the ones I missed. My notes were not exhaustive. Anyway, a good time was had by all and I look forward to the next pitch!

The Great Australian Rip-off: What we are doing to #StopTheRipOff

March 28, 2022 by Tinni Choudhury in business, branding

I can’t believe that it’s already the end of March! I didn’t even do a New Years post! Have I been that busy? Yes, yes I have!

It’s been incredibly rewarding and challenging working full-time as the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Kyco Australia. As much as I would like to say that it’s been smooth sailing with nothing but wins but that has not been the case. We have suffered many setbacks and even forward steps often resulted in us going backwards. That is, however, the reality of startup life with the journey being more of a zigzag then a straight line.

Onwards with new partners and a new plan! On Thursday the 24th of March we launched The Great Australian Rip Off campaign to expose the secret payments and incentives many Australians don’t realise are driving up their cost of living for services including electricity and the internet.

Insurers have admitted secret commissions paid to commercial comparison websites – some as high as 40 to 60 per cent – end up being passed on to most Australians through higher premiums. Our startup was created to address the market inefficiency born from this rip-off. So it makes sense for us to shine a light on the problem. So join us to #StopTheRipOff, your wallet will thank you!

Kyco is LIVE!!!

November 30, 2021 by Tinni Choudhury in business

I have a contract dated from May 2019 hiring me as the chief of technology with the holding company of what is now Kyco Australia. It’s been a long journey but we are finally live! The Kyco website soft-launched on the 18th of November and officially went “live” on the 22nd of November when our advertising campaign kicked into gear.

The launch party was on the 24th of November at the Cielo Rooftop bar! It was a bit thank you to everybody who helped us get here. Our marketing company, our developers, our lawyers and more! The whole team was there and a good time was had by all!

It was also the day for the RiverPitch Live 2021 and I bought in-person tickets. But it was raining and I wasn’t feeling 100% so I didn’t end up going. I tried to catch the live stream but that didn’t happen. So, I ended up not going to the majority of the events I signed up for and paid tickets for but that’s life sometimes!

The important thing is that Kyco is now fighting the good fight against Comparasites and I am happy to be on the team! Why not join us?

Not to bury the lead, but I am also now full time with Kyco as their Chief Technology Officer. What that means is that I will not be taking on new clients for Start with Tinni for the foreseeable future. But I’ll still be helping existing clients and one off events like my recent speaking engagement! That was a lot of fun and I wouldn’t mind doing more but for now, Kyco is my main focus.

Mentoring UQIES, Weekend of Startups!

October 10, 2021 by Tinni Choudhury in branding

Yesterday, I stopped off at the Advanced Engineering Building to provide what value I could to the teams taking part in the UQIES’s Weekend of Startups!

The schedule was running a bit late but that worked out for me as I got the opportunity to listen to the founder of Cool Beans Underwear, which aims to boost male fertility. I had read that male fertility was dropping and yes, that does mean opportunity for innovation. So it was good to see an Aussie startup working in this space.

I spoke to almost all teams and there were some interesting ideas in the mix. The one that stood out to be me was a team trying to improve substance abuse education through games. I think they had a compelling issue to address and their proposed solution can certainly work.

Another team was tackling sleep issues in university students, this team also featured Felix - whose team PEAM were the winner of the KMW Transform Law challenge. Felix was also one of the UQIES organisers and the one I liaised with around my mentorship. So it was great to get to chat with him a bit more.

The teams should be wrapping up and preparing for final pitches as this blog goes live. Good luck to all the teams and they are all winners for having had a go at entrepreneurship, even if for just a weekend. May the best team win!

Finally, I was thanked for my time with Rum from Milton Distillery, which made me feel like a pirate! Of course, I don’t drink. So it’s going to become Kyco’s office rum next week. I hope the Kyco crew will like it!